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Articles Conference Reviews |
2007H27FinnH27: Tools for the Writing Classroom – Exercises in Propaganda, Humor, and Critical Thinking Susan Amper: “Into the Future: Propaganda as 21st Century Writing Tool” Amper has the luxury of living in a city with a plethora of propaganda to analyze in her classroom. She uses the front pages from the The New York Times, The New York Post, and The New York Daily News on select days and asks her students to compare the front pages’ headlines and images. The students analyze audience, voice, style, language, and content. I envied her access to these texts, but mostly I envied the knowledge that her students possess about the local headlines that directly relate to their community. I envision trying something like this in my Iowa classroom with some of the rural newspapers and the “big city” paper. Marvin Diogenes: “Unplanning the How: Lessons for Writers from Improvisational Comedy” Diogenes’ presentation intrigued me because I do not possess extensive knowledge of improvisational comedy aside from television shows like Whose Line is it Anyway?, and I was curious about how he planned to incorporate the techniques in the classroom. It seemed, from his presentation, that he utilizes these techniques as invention strategies. He noted that invention can become too routine, and everything in the classroom is designed to “suppress spontaneity.” He feels that improvisation opens the classroom. The strategies he discussed are meant to access the writer/performer in the student. One strategy I was particular interested in was the “90 Second Alphabet.” In this activity, a letter would be selected from the alphabet, for example F. The students would be given a prompt to write on and 90 seconds to write. The first sentence would begin with F, the second sentence would begin with G, the third with H, and so on. Diogenes also mentioned other techniques including the Panel of Experts, Congressional Hearing, and Press Conference in which students “perform their sources” for the rest of the class. He provided a handout during his session that outlined many more strategies. Those interested in an electronic copy of the handout can contact him at marvind@stanford.edu. Laura Fasick: “Using Shakespeare’s Plays to Teach Critical Thinking and Writing Skills” Fasick’s presentation was interesting because of the curriculum her institution follows in the composition course. The curriculum requires that students read at least one Shakespeare play during the term. The assignments she described require students to understand the text and then think beyond that text imagining new conclusions and new conversations between characters in the plays. Her assignments were creative, which made me want to revamp my course curriculum to include works of classical literature. Comments? |